Top Payment Service Providers That You Must Know!!

December 07, 2021

Dinesh kumar

VP Engineering @ Radiansys

The global digital economy landscape has seen major shifts in the past years. A major portion of these shifts occurred in the Digital Payments market and occurred for the good. As studies say, the digital payments transaction value is set to grow at an annual rate of 12.24%. This directly impacted the status of online payment service providers that saw tremendous growth as well.

Payment service providers or payment processing platforms are entities taking care of financial transactions between any two parties. Generally, the major players of this process include merchant, customer, payment processor, payment gateway, customer’s bank, and merchant’s bank. Not to forget, the financial data that rotates in this process is even more important and needs to reach the right end in the right manner. There are plenty of payment servicing-issuing platforms claiming to provide the best services that can scale your business, increase conversions, and boost user experiences.

So, as there exist so many payment processing platforms providing the best of services and features, how do you determine the right fit for your purpose? Let us help you choose the right match for your business goals and user experience target. Continue reading…

Top 5 online payment service providers

Here is a curated list of the top online payment processing platforms that have their unique features.

1. Stripe

Best for: all kinds of online businesses (eCommerce majorly), international payments, customized payments solutions, competitive rates

Any discussion on the top payment solutions for apps cannot be complete without the mention of Stripe. While the project is developer-centered majorly, it is also well known for its numerous features and admirable characteristics. Starting as a prime payment gateway in 2010, Stripe provided online payment solutions for businesses and individuals alike. It gained immense popularity in no time due to its industry-level efficiency and standards.

The user interface of Stripe is truly unparalleled which has made it the choice of top brands like Pinterest, Slack, Deliveroo, Lyft, Postmates, etc. Stripe is best for app owners who have in-house developers or can hire a web development company due to its developer-driven nature. Let’s see what all make Stripe such a popular payments solution:

• It comes with over 100 in-built features that cater sufficiently to the basic requirements of any payment process.
• The Stripe REST APIs help with developing methods for various payment activities including general transactions, user account tracking, management of recurring subscriptions, sending invoices, blocking unauthorized transactions, and so on.
• It has got the best-in-className marketplace and developer-friendly tools on its Connect platform. These allow the respective apps to connect with flourishing marketplaces, third-party software, etc. to gain a wider user base and increase renewal.
• The tool also supports the use of plenty of payment methods including Master cards, Visa, ACH debits, Google Pay, etc.
• There are plenty of advanced features in Stripe like- a programmable terminal, special APIs for card and business model creation, radar feature for fraud prevention, sigma feature for easy access to business data, etc.
• A step above the general, Stripe offers premium support to its clients that need customized and exclusive solutions. It has a vast set of pre-built solutions to take care of the complex and more comprehensive client requirements.

Stripe has a comprehensive pack of APIs, that helps developers integrate various payment processes into mobile and web apps. It has been hailed as one of the best payment gateways by software developers because of its high usability. The prime reason is the extensively detailed and convenient API documentation in all the key programming languages that helps easy kickstart the API implementation process.

2. PayPal

Best for: online businesses, hassle-free transactions, high security of financial data

Another great payment gateway API is PayPal which is among the very popular virtual payment solutions in many international markets. It is a highly secured platform for online financial transactions and is much trusted by users worldwide. PayPal works with both mobile and web applications

With over 237 million active users across more than 200 global markets, PayPal is even being used by other major payment service providers like Venmo, Braintree, Xoom, etc. It also holds the largest share of 50.32% in the payment processing software market.

A digital wallet, in the beginning, PayPal grew into becoming a highly versatile online payments solution with eBay taking it over in 2002. Here are some top reasons why users love PayPal:

• It supports financial transactions in over 100 currencies, withdrawals in around 56 currencies, and balance holdings in around 25 currencies for registered users.
• Users highly prefer PayPal as it is super simple to use. There is no immense hassle to go through while signing up for a PayPal account. For the merchants, they can just sign up for a PayPal account and then add the button “Pay by PayPal” on their app or website.
• PayPal makes it super convenient for its users with no startup fee, monthly charges, termination fee, or withdrawal fee. They can also choose from plenty of subscription plans available to only pay for what they use.

Integrating apps with PayPal allows businesses to provide diverse payment method options to their customers. The PayPal payments pro plan lets merchants utilize the advanced checkout and payments features. This includes payment support for cards, PayPal credit, etc., phone-based credit card payments, in-person payments, and online invoicing.

PayPal follows the best and advanced measures for securing financial transactions on the platform. It secures payments even on the less secured websites and enables PCI compliance for all including free or low-cost cloud hostings. Alongside, it doesn’t require users to save their card or bank account details on the server.

When it comes to developers, the PayPal API has become one of their top choices as well. The reason is extensive documentation that helps smooth API implementation. PayPal supports integration with both iOS and Android apps. It provides various functionalities including bank transfers, mass payments, reports, invoicing, and recurring subscriptions.

3. Plaid

Best for: FinTech applications, secured transfer of banking data

Started as just a payment API, Plaid has now become a major player in the FinTech game by advancing the mobile banking field. It is primarily functional in the US and Europe regions and has connected over 3000 fintech apps with plenty of big financial institutions- all with just one API! Plaid is powering almost the whole US banking landscape along with being the choice of top FinTech companies like Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, etc.

Plaid has proven its mettle at being one of the safest tools for the smooth transfer of important financial data. While transferring financial data to the app in use, it establishes a secured bridge between the users’ bank accounts and the respective apps requiring the said data. It then pulls out the data from the bank account like account numbers, account balance, etc. This data is protected in the process itself with encrypted tokens. The prime components of Plaid’s security regime include data encryption, cloud infrastructure, multi-factor authentication, strict monitoring, and independent security testing measures.

Developers also find Plaid to be the best payment solution that can be integrated with FinTech applications. Plaid is the best product for programmers and developers on the lookout for powerful yet easily implementable APIs. It does most of the back-end development weightlifting for the app developers by providing them with superior APIs. Let’s see how:

• Plaid allows developers to build several integrations into their apps without having to build the integrations individually every time.
• The Plaid APIs bring into use a single endpoint that can be used by the developers for building the payments platform for each bank being connected with the apps.
• Developers can establish connections with banks, enable payments, perform balance checks, strengthen app security, and much more through Plaid API. These methods allow faster and easier authentication and linking of the bank accounts in the Plaid integrated app.
• The API documentation files along with plenty of libraries and resources also facilitate the simplification of the API integration process.

Plaid Link is another product of Plaid that makes API integration further simpler. It is a drop-in module strengthening the security measures alongside providing full-fledge integrations in just a few steps.

4. i2c- Credit card processing

Best for: credit card issuing and processing programs, easily configurable banking solutions

i2c Inc is popularly known as the provider of banking tech and digital payments solutions with expertise in the card issuing and processing field. I2c has been leveraging the advances of issuing processing platforms for the credit card market to level the playing field for the global investors here. It’s a singular global platform that aims at letting its clients have full freedom at controlling their payments. The outreach of i2c is magnificently large with over a million users from all time zones and 200+ regions.

The i2c platform has truly revolutionized the field of global financial innovation with its cutting-edge expertise, services, and products. I2c is well known for its exceptional issuer processing and management services regarding card accounts lifecycle. It follows the agile process while letting its clients create and manage any kind of global credit/prepaid/debit card programs on specific timelines and terms. Alongside, the platform also minimizes the IT infrastructure needs of its clients by helping them launch their programs within record 30 days. It also keeps in tandem with the rapidly shifting trends and digital features to allow high configurability and reliability to its customers.

I2c does all of it exclusively with its trademark “building block” technology. It has proved remarkably efficient at helping the clients obtain and manage the best solutions for a vast variety of credit, prepaid, debit, lending, etc. activities at an optimized cost and faster. These payment functionalities blocks can be interlocked to generate different payments use cases and solutions with scope for newer capacities. Here are the advantages of this building block tech:

• Faster creation, testing, and deployment of customized payment solutions
• Instantly upload the card credentials faster to the mobile wallets of end customers
• Over 100k in-built and point-to-click coded functionalities are available to choose from
• Extract features and trends from the market feedback and reports by i2c to advance the test programs
• No coding knowledge required to utilize the block functionalities

I2c also comes with over 300 state-of-art APIs that facilitate easy integration with a variety of systems. These APIs let the clients optimize their digital setup, decrease their time-to-market, and run as many use-cases. There are extensive payment and banking APIs available that help developers create a unique card, consumer, and commercial banking solutions.

5. Braintree

Best for: startup businesses, simple pricing plans, high usability

Several opinions have held Braintree to be the superior payment solution way ahead of its competitors. Well, such claims can find solace in the fact that Braintree is being used by some of the tech giants namely Uber, Airbnb, etc. This payment service has made inroads into almost all major countries and continents including the USA, Europe, New Zealand, Hong Kong, etc.

Braintree is now a part of the PayPal group; the latter having absorbed it in 2013. It provides both- payment gateway functionalities and payment services, majorly for the eCommerce platforms. However, what makes Braintree different from the rest includes:

1. Braintree provides individual merchant accounts services.
2. Braintree can also be used as a payment gateway solely in case of a pre-existing merchant account.

The merchant account provided by Braintree is a complete service available for all business levels. It assigns a unique merchant ID to every client and doesn’t require any minimum processing requirement to be met. Speaking of the payment gateway, Braintree not only provides payment processing but more including the control panel and APIs. This gateway can even be used with a merchant account associated with a different provider. Businesses wanting to operate directly on any mobile or web app can use Braintree Direct. It permits various payment methods including debit/credit cards, wallets, payment apps, etc. along with integrations, recurring billing, fraud protection, etc.

The best part to note is that Braintree has a specialized resource center replete with info on the newest industry trends. It also follows the strictest security standards including PCI DSS, 3D, and Data Security, alongside providing fraud protection.

Braintree didn’t forget the developers at all. It has an extensively laid out section on the payment API references for the developers to find the best methods for implementation processes. Comprehensive documentation in the major programming languages is also there to help. Furthermore, developers can also use the sandbox accounts for exploring through the extensive functionalities provided by this top payment service. Tools like Braintree Auth and Extend also help businesses get more from their operations.

Some extra suggestions…

As a responsible entity, you must ensure that the payment solution chosen by you is nothing but the best for your needs. This is because the choice is not only going to affect your purpose but also the end customers involved. Thus, there are a few things that you should pay attention to:

• The safety of users’ financial data is crucial. Thereby, it is extremely important to pick a payment gateway with high data security standards. You can check for 3D security integrations, PCI DSS compliance, and similar other security checklists to be available in the respective payment gateway.
• If you have a global customer base, then it’s important to choose a payment gateway that supports the use of multiple currencies and payment methods. The gateway should facilitate smaller payout times for money crediting in the bank account.
• Another important thing is the payment gateway should be easily integrable as well as customizable. This allows the easier development of precision payment solutions that match the business goals exactly.
• The platform should have proper documentation available for the developers or provide the option of custom-coded solutions. If there are SDKs, libraries, and other tools available, it’s a bonus!
• The presence of an active community and forums for any payments gateway is a major advantage. This proves much helpful in faster problem resolution, value addition in terms of pre-built codes and integrations, etc.

We, hereby, close the chapter of our insights on the best online payment service providers that you must check out for building the best apps. The options above were chosen after a careful study of the market and associated factors like support offered, security, cost, integrations, and so on. Hoping that the article proves helpful to you in picking the perfect payment processing platform.

Thanks for reading!